June 2 in Swedish History

1938: Swedish parliament decides to introduce 12 days vacation (two weeks) with full pay for all employees in Sweden, both in public and private service. 

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  On June 2 in 1938, the Swedish parliament decides to introduce 12 days (two weeks) of vacation with full pay for all employees (bar domestic servants). This vacation period is then expanded upon until it reaches 5 weeks. Today, the countries with most vacation days given are France, Spain, Denmark, Brazil, and Germany with 30 days, Italy with 28, and then England, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, and India with 25. The US has 14 days. This according to a survey done for cnn.com Above: A typical Swedish house in Tällberg. Photo: Hans Jensen

• June 2 in Swedish History
  1938: Swedish parliament decides to introduce 12 days vacation (two weeks) with full pay for all employees in Sweden, both in public and private service. The law goes into effect on June 8. The vacation period is then continuously expanded upon during the following decades to five weeks, but the law is only the minimum levels – if the employer and employees agree then vacation may be longer. A group that was excluded from this first law was the group of domestic servants, who incidentally aren’t legally entitled to vacation until the 1970’s.

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  Styggens stuga, Säfsnäs in the province Dalarna in central Sweden.

• These days, every other Swede leaves his year round residence to vacation at a summer house for five to six weeks in the summer. Who doesn’t want a little red summerhouse to retreat to? These days, other than spending time at a summer house, many Swedes travel: Travel habits: The 7 greatest trends

• Organized travel started early in Sweden. The first charter flight to the Mediterranean with Swedish vacationers left in the mid-fifties. Landing on Majorca on April 23 in 1955